Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-02-11
The GrGatACCident.
PLUNGE OF The NIGHT EXPRESS
OFF THE LONG BRIDGE AT
HARTFORD.
-Four Cars Wrecked ON the Ice.
Cars and Bridge Take Fire and
are Completely Destroyed.
Terrible Scenes Of Death yFirG.
THE WORST DISASTER SINCE
ASHTABULA.
OF 30 or More Persons In the Train at
Least 85 are Killed and as Many More
are Hurt, Some Fatally.
The Dreadful Scenes Described
IN Detail.
The Investigation of the Disaster by the
Railroad Commission.
Terrible Scenes Of Death hyFire.
THE WORST DISASTER SINCE
ASHTABULA.
OF 30 or More Persons In the Train at
Least 85 are Killed and as Many More
are Hurt, Some Fatally.
The Investigation of the Disaster by the
Railroad Commission.
The Testimony Given by the En-
gineer, Fireman and Others who
Escaped with their Lives.

The worst railroad accident which has
ever happened in Vermont or in New Eng
land, and one of the most horrible which
has ever taken place in this country oc-
Cured last Friday night on the Central
Vermont railroad four miles beyond White
River Junction, when four cars of the night
express train were dashed off high bridge,
the wreck took fire and more than 30 of
those on the train met horrible death. The
wrecked train is the one known on the Cen
trail Vermont road as the Boston and Mont |
real express, and is the one which passes |
Brattleboro at 1910 p. M, with cars added |
to it which come from Boston by the way of |
Nashua and Concord, On this occasion the |
train consisted of locomotive, combina-
ton baggage and express car, combination
mail and smoking car, one passenger coach
from the Connecticut River road, one pas
senger conch from Boston, the Pullman
sleeping-car "St Adams from Springfield,
and the Pullman sleeping-car Pilgrim
from Boston. The train was made up in
the order here given.
The scene of the accident was the long,
high wooden deck bridge across the sluggish
White river four miles from its junction
with the Connecticut. Near here was the
old Woodstock station which was used for
the convenience of Woodstock passengers
until the branch road to that place was
built The bridge was $40 feet long, con
structed on the Howe truss plan, and ex-
tended diagonally across the river with
stone abutments at either end and three
stone piers in the river, on which the
structure rested From the track. which
was laid on the top of the bridge, the dis
lance to the water was 81 feet. The river
was frozen over solidly, the ice being so
thick that heavy teams could cross in safe
ty. At its southern end where the acct
dent happened the bridge is approached by
a sharp curve to the right, the rails being
laid on high embankment to reach the
level of the bridge.
On Friday night the train was an hour
and half late and left White River juno
| ton about 2:l0 a. Nj. The night was in
tensely cold, the mercury marking several
degrees below zero The sky was clear and
the moon made it unusually bright. AS the
train neared the bridge the rear sleeper,
Pilgrim left the rails from some reason.
either from broken rail or a broken wheel
or journal, and was dragged jolting along
over the ties and as it neared the bridge it
toppled and fell over, dragging after it the
sleeper st Adams" and the two passen-
| ger coaches in front These broke away
| from the rest of the train. the mail and bag
gage cars and the engine, which went safe
| ly over. Some of the cars turned com
pletely over as they fell and struck on their
tops, which were crushed in like egg shells
on the solid ice below The others landed
on their sides and made great confused
mass of broken timbers, running gear and
smaller debris.
Many of the 80 or more passengers in the
cars were, of course, killed or manged by
this terrible plunge but to complete the
horror of the scene the cars all took fire
from the stoves which they carried and al
most Immediately the wreck famed up
presently the bridge itself caught fire from
the flames as they streamed up, its burning
timbers dropped down on the burning cars,
its several spans fell over one after another
with a crash, and in an hour nothing was
left but a smouldering mass of blackened
embers with the charred human bodies and
the iron work of the cars and bridge under
them. The scene was horrible beyond de-
scripton as the train men and the few pas
sengers who were saved did what they
could to rescue those who were imprisoned
in the wreck A few were rescued, alive
as the flames swept rapidly on and drove
the rescuing party away.
The first warning which the engineer had
that enything was wrong was u stroke on
his bell in the cab as the train broke in two
on the bridge, and he applied the air brakes
and looked back just in season to see the
ears fall over. He stopped his train as soon
as he reached the other side of the bridge
and Immediately went to the relief of those
in the wreck What he did is told by himself
in his testimony before the commission else
where given. A brakeman named Parker
aroused the inmates of the two or three sO-
lated farm houses in the vicinity, got a team
ut one of them, and drove as quickly as
possible back to White River Junction. Civ
ing the alarm on the way and arousing
the railroad officials ON his arrival. A special
train was made up and run back TO the
wreck as quickly as possible, but meantime
more than an hour had elapsed and the cars
and bridge were entirely burned up. As
many of the rescued victims as possible had
been carried into the farm-houses near by.
Others who could bear transportation were
carried to the villages of Hartford and
White River Junction
At daylight the work of searching the de
bris for the remains of the dead began. Fol-
a time this was done without order or re
sponsible method, but ON the arrival of tn,
railroad managers from st. Adams includ
ing eX-Gov, Smith, General Manager Ho
bart and Superintendent Foss the ruin
were roped off to keep out the surginl
crowd, and the search was taken up system
atically Here and there the charre,
trunk of a human being was removed prac
, tically intact, but in many cases only few
fragments of bone and a handful of ashe
7 were left, and it was impossible to tell in al
cases how many bodies these represented
Probably it will never be known lust how
many persons were ON the train or hoy
> many persisted. How closely the actua
numberis established will depend ON whethe
the victims had friends to trace them gu
r and prove that they were on the fated train
The railroad people figure, from the con
e ductors' reports and other attainable data
that there were probably 70 or n adult per
sons ON the train, A list is given, up /
this writing, of 20 dead bodies which hav
4 been recovered from the wreck, 10 of whic
{ have been identified and 10 have not bee
! so far 80 persons were injured more o
y less severely, and 8 escaped uniniured
!, This makes a total of "a. This leaves thre
on four victims unaccounted for, and prof.
, ably the actual number is more than thi,
r. Reporters who are ON the ground and hav
p watched everything sharply, are confiden
. that the remains of at least 35 bodies hay
been recovered, However the count
n made there are discrepancies which cannc
T. be reconcied
It All accounts agree that the railroad con
pany has done everything in its power I